Latest news with #Lumumba
The South African
3 days ago
- Politics
- The South African
Power: The truth behind Africa's longest-serving presidents
Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirms that several African presidents with lengthy tenures first came to power through freedom movements. Over time, many used harsh tactics to secure their authority and silence civil rights, dissent, and opposition. Their extended tenure in office is a reflection of Cold War alliances to secure the Western geopolitical agenda, post-colonial trauma, and structural weaknesses inherited from colonialism. These trends impede democratic transformation and peaceful leadership transitions in many authoritarian African countries. According to historians, including the Kenyan Ali Mazrui, colonial powers drew the borders of Africa with little regard for linguistic, cultural, or ethnic reality. Furthermore, the African Union's Border Program (AUBP) recognises the effects of colonial borders. The AUBP maintains border integrity, promotes demarcation, and fosters regional cooperation. For 23 years (1885–1908), King Leopold II of Belgium owned the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also called the Congo Free State. Leopold II ended his ownership on 15 November 1908, when the Belgian government took over direct colonial governance. Known as the Belgian Congo, the period of direct Belgian colonial rule continued until the DRC gained independence on 30 June 1960. Belgian rule ended in 1960, leaving the DRC unstable, divided along ethnic and regional lines. That same year, Belgian mining companies, concerned about the nationalisation of natural resources, played a role in influencing the Katanga province to secede from the DRC's new government and become its own country. Katanga contained minerals such as uranium, cobalt, and copper that were vital to Cold War nuclear projects and Western industry. To protect mining interests, Katanga's leader, Moïse Tshombe, declared independence with the support of Belgian troops and mercenaries. The secession movement in Katanga and South Kasai triggered a civil war, split the Congo, and weakened the national government of former Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. To regain Katanga, Lumumba sought Soviet support, which worried the West and increased Cold War concerns. The United States and Belgium supported Lumumba's removal. The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station, Larry Devlin, admitted receiving an order to kill Lumumba, even though the CIA did not carry out the murder. With Belgian help, Katangan soldiers executed Lumumba on 17 January 1961. Then-Army Chief Joseph Mobutu seized power in a military coup on 24 November 1965, promising to maintain stability, fight communism, and bring about order. Former President Mobutu ruled the DRC, which he renamed Zaire, as its official president from 1965 to 1997. Using Law No. 001/67, he outlawed multiparty politics in 1967, citing national unity as justification. Between 1967 and 1974, Zaire's (DRC's) economy flourished due to high copper prices and export revenue. Mobutu's centralised government built dams and highways, set up colleges, and expanded civil service employment during this prosperous period. He initiated 'Zairianisation,' replacing colonial names and symbols with African identities, language, and dress. Mobutu grew increasingly authoritarian as he became concerned about outside threats, civil unrest, and elite plots to overthrow him. After 1974, the economy deteriorated due to unsustainable government debt, corruption, and falling copper prices. Mobutu continued to receive financial support from Western countries to maintain Cold War allegiance and challenge Soviet hegemony in Central Africa. Mobutu used military loyalty, foreign aid, and a personality cult to maintain his rule through tyranny and patronage. A 1994 report by Amnesty International (AI) detailed how Mobutu imprisoned opponents and made peaceful political opposition illegal. In 1991, Mobutu regularly imprisoned former prime minister Étienne Tshisekedi for challenging his authority. Mobutu is estimated by Transparency International to have embezzled approximately US$5 billion (roughly R92.5 billion) between 1965 and 1997. Several African leaders were able to control political affairs through post-colonial heroics without being held accountable or subject to institutional scrutiny. Liberation credentials bestowed significant moral power, enabling leaders to rule unchallenged for decades without adhering to democratic standards. With significant support from Western nations, Félix Houphouët-Boigny served as Côte d'Ivoire's first president from 1960 to 1993. Former President Houphouët-Boigny suppressed dissent in 1963 by detaining dozens of people, including members of his party, on suspicion of plotting. He also received substantial support in the 1970s in exchange for his commitment to a pro-Western foreign policy, though the exact amounts of French assistance are classified. In 1982, authorities arrested academic activist Laurent Gbagbo for organising strikes and student-led demonstrations. In Jeune Afrique and other journals, Gbagbo criticised Houphouët-Boigny's repression and censorship. Through the development of infrastructure, international investor relationships, and cocoa exports, he transformed Côte d'Ivoire into the economic hub of West Africa. His Cold War connections, local unrest, and fears of internal coup attempts and disintegration were the root causes of his authoritarianism. From 1980 until 2017, former President Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe, turning anti-colonial recognition into a consolidation and repression of authoritarian power. Political persecution, economic collapse, and deliberate manipulation of Zimbabwe's constitution all contributed to his decline in popularity. After independence, he initially made investments in rural development and improved healthcare and education for Black Zimbabweans. Elite corruption, economic mismanagement, and land expropriation sparked the collapse post-2000, and international isolation exacerbated it further. Superpowers backed African dictators during the Cold War, prioritising ideology over democracy, as US archives consistently confirm. The US National Security Archive documents Cold War tactics that funded autocracies for anti-communist ends. The French-backed economic continuity and political stability were upheld during Omar Bongo's tenure as Gabon's president from 1967 to 2009. Former President Bongo supported Gabon's oil-based economy and made investments in initiatives like Université Omar Bongo, but infrastructure development was uneven, and education received insufficient funding, which sparked protests. Le Monde claims that Bongo was heavily reliant on Elf Aquitaine, which exchanged political funding for access to oil. Elf secretly financed Bongo's government in exchange for oil contracts, as Le Monde Diplomatique (1999) exposed. While Bongo's prolonged rule concentrated power and wealth, it also encouraged institutional dependence on foreign-controlled oil profits. During her corruption investigation, Eva Joly found that Bongo's family had lavish real estate, expensive cars, and suspicious Swiss bank accounts. Watchdog groups claim that the Bongo dictatorship embezzled several hundred million US dollars. Between 1993 and 2005, Pierre Mamboundou led the resistance and was regularly arrested for political dissent. He wrote to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), denouncing monitoring and torture. Bongo remained relatively calm, but his opponents faced violence, censorship, and systematic exclusion from political life. In 1994, Paul Kagame became the de facto leader of Rwanda, and in 2000, he was formally elected president. After the genocide, he restored security, rebuilt Kigali, made healthcare investments, and led Rwanda toward economic growth. His administration improved Rwanda's digital infrastructure, promoted gender equality in parliament, and carried out peacekeeping missions. Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented cases of dissenter arrests, torture, and disappearances in Rwanda and abroad from 2021 to 2023. Global human rights organisations have widely denounced President Kagame's intolerance for dissent, overshadowing his advocacy for control and progress. In African countries with weak civilian institutions, military takeovers have cemented authoritarianism, according to the Institute for Security Studies. According to scholars of African governance, military regimes flourish when democratic oversight and institutions are lacking or ineffective. After a guerrilla campaign against the government of former President Milton Obote, President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986. By issuing Legal Notice No. 1, he put an end to multiparty operations and established Uganda's no-party Movement political system. During his early years in office, Museveni stabilised Uganda's economy and expanded healthcare and education. However, repression of dissenters, electoral fraud, and the lifting of the presidential age limit have gradually compromised progress towards democracy. Former Museveni advisor Dr Kizza Besigye was arrested more than ten times between 2001 and 2022. He was accused of orchestrating unlawful protests in well-known Ugandan cities, causing civil unrest, and contesting election results. Besigye submitted documents to Uganda's Supreme Court in 2016 claiming evidence of electoral fraud and torture. In Africa, personal rule endures because weak institutions enable leaders to solidify their power through repression and loyalty. Equatorial Guinean state institutions were converted into networks of patronage loyal to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. According to academic sources such as Oxford Academic, Equatorial Guinea is a personalist system where elite co-optation and patronage are essential for political survival. Obiang, who has been in office since 1979, significantly raised GDP in the early 2000s by using GEPetrol to manage oil revenues. Petrodollars enabled the construction of urban roads, infrastructure, electrical access, and luxurious developments in the coastal cities of Bata and Malabo. Yet, the concentration of wealth made inequality worse, and people outside of cities had limited access to basic services. The U.S. Department of Justice made public offshore accounts linked to senior officials involved in the laundering of oil profits and illegal transactions. Hundreds of millions of dollars were seized as a result of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) forfeiture cases involving the ostentatious possessions of the wealthy elite. The conviction of Teodorín Obiang for embezzlement and money laundering was formally upheld by the Court of Cassation in France in 2021. French authorities seized approximately a hundred million euros in estates and upscale goods purchased with embezzled public funds. Agustín Esono Nsogo, a journalist who documented human rights abuses by the government, was tortured at Black Beach jail. Findings from Amnesty International show that Equatorial Guinea's security forces engaged in widespread censorship, incommunicado detentions, and systematic torture. Obiang's long-term rule led to economic growth, but corruption, repression, and nepotism seriously jeopardised national development goals. Long-serving African presidents often use rigged elections and politicised courts to retain power and suppress opposition. The International Crisis Group's (ICG's) 2023 publications highlight trends in election manipulation across Africa, but they don't focus solely on this problem. Since taking office in 1982, President Paul Biya has led Cameroon, frequently winning elections despite widespread allegations of voter intimidation and fraud. Significant irregularities were noted in Cameroon's elections in 2004, 2011, and 2018 by Commonwealth, European Union, and NDI observers. Biya changed Article 6 of the Cameroonian Constitution in 2008, eliminating term limits for presidents. Against strong public opposition, the Biya parliament passed the amendment, which the Constitutional Council later approved. Maurice Kamto, the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, was arrested after he challenged Biya's victory in the 2018 election. Maurice Kamto contested the 2018 election results at Cameroon's constitutional council, but the council made no decision based on concrete evidence of meddling. Biya improved the accessibility of telecommunications and maintained regional links, but road infrastructure was still insufficient and underwent little structural change. But after 2016, his administration's suppression of opposition, delay in decentralisation, and poor handling of Anglophone concerns sparked a deadly separatist struggle. Many African regimes invoke national security to restrict civil rights and consolidate indefinite political power. As the President of Chad from 1991 to 2021, Idriss Déby Itno established himself as a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism. He led Chad's military actions against Boko Haram and made significant contributions to G5 Sahel initiatives. Former President Déby became well-known throughout the world as a strongman by professionalising the Chadian military and expanding regional power. Yet, military priorities diverted funds from civic, educational, and health services, making rural neglect worse. Déby's government frequently invoked security rationales, such as Boko Haram threats, to implement emergency measures that restricted people's freedoms. Under Déby, the Constitutional Council of Chad was largely inactive and rarely opposed presidential actions that restricted civil liberties. Les Transformateurs, led by Dr Succès Masra, advocates for inclusive political representation and nonviolent change in Chad. Particularly in 2021, security forces brutally put an end to Masra-organised rallies, sparking both domestic outrage and global concern. According to Amnesty International, mass arrests and harsh repression of protesters are commonplace in Chad. Amnesty's report confirms that political activists frequently suffered abuse, even though it does not name Masra as a victim of torture. Ethnic divide-and-rule tactics are employed to weaken opposition and prolong control. From 1967 until 2005, former President Gnassingbé Eyadéma led Togo in a combination of prolonged authoritarian rule and socioeconomic advancements. He nationalised Togo's phosphate industry in 1974, boosting revenue and funding infrastructure at the height of the 1970s economy. However, by the 1990s, phosphate exports had collapsed due to corruption and poor management, which sparked a national debt crisis and economic decline. Eyadéma invested funds in public buildings and road construction, strengthening regional ties across central and northern Togo. He relied heavily on the Kabyé ethnic minority to dominate government institutions and exercise control over the military. Southern and minority groups become polarised and enraged as a result of this ongoing ethnic isolation. Eyadéma's government was accused by opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio of repression, which included media censorship, torture, and arrests. The UN and Amnesty International documented torture, censorship, and political persecution in Togo in their 1990s reports. Former President Daniel Arap Moi governed Kenya from 1978 to 2002, enhancing education and rural infrastructure during his initial years in power. He implemented a free milk programme in schools, increased primary enrolment, and constructed roads connecting remote agricultural areas. He centralised authorities, suppressed opposition, and relied on ethnic patronage to maintain national political dominance. According to human rights reports, state-sponsored violence between 1992 and 1997 uprooted thousands, particularly in the Rift Valley. Between 1991 and 1997, the Kenyan government used ethnic violence to weaken opposition during the country's multiparty electoral reforms. The Goldenberg scam, which involved false gold export reimbursements, embezzled millions of Kenyan dollars during Moi's administration. Ultimately, Moi consolidated his power through force, nepotism, and financial mismanagement, despite his initial perceived stabilising role. Authoritarian African presidents frequently amend their constitutions to remove term limits, eroding legal standards to give themselves more authority. Except for the political transitions in 1992 and 1997, President Denis Sassou Nguesso has been in power in Congo since 1979. He held a referendum in 2015 that eliminated age and term limits, allowing for continued presidential rule. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Amnesty International reported fatalities during protests in October 2015 over the term extension. Before his death, opposition leader Guy Brice Parfait Kolélas spoke out against persecution and electoral fraud during the Congo's 2021 election. Before his passing, Kolélas released a video in which he accused Sassou Nguesso's government of vote fraud and intimidation. He promoted election transparency and coalition building, which enhanced the appeal of the opposition. In addition to ongoing urban infrastructure projects, the Sassou Nguesso administration opened Université Denis Sassou-Nguesso in 2021. Although there are numerous efforts, Congo's healthcare system faces challenges, with notable disparities in access between rural and urban areas. Despite its achievements, the administration faces accusations of inequality, corruption, and institutional decay, particularly in the southern provinces. Beyond term limits, authoritarian African dictators use institutional brutality, disintegration, and oppression to cause widespread suffering to anyone who opposes them. Authorities have overseen killings, torture, and economic collapse from Uganda to Chad, with tragic human consequences. Amnesty International confirmed numerous violations, and Hissène Habré's dictatorship alone saw the execution of 40,000 people in Chad's prisons. These actions violate both Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Articles 4 and 5 of the African Charter. Such regimes threaten opponents with violence and arrest, destroy institutions, and eliminate term limits. Leaders like Sassou Nguesso and Museveni advocate for rule extensions as a defence against external threats and instability. They fear prosecution, retaliation, or exile if political rivals take control and investigate past wrongdoings by the government. Foreign funders continue to support them, prioritising regional stability, economic access, and counterterrorism over their human rights pledges. Despite the African Union (AU) and UN resolutions, long-standing authoritarian governments continue to practice mass killings, torture, and censorship. The African Charter, the UN Torture Convention, and the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act all contain democratic and legal norms that these governments violate. An estimated 210,000 civilians were killed under the leadership of four former presidents: Macías Nguema (Equatorial Guinea), Idi Amin (Uganda), Siad Barre (Somalia), and Hissène Habré (Chad). Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 11. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
DW
19-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Who killed Patrice Lumumba, DR Congo's first prime minister? – DW – 06/18/2025
For Juliana Lumumba, Patrice Lumumba wasn't just an independence leader and politician. He has her father. That's why she continues to call for the truth about Lumumba's assassination 64 years ago. For more than 60 years, Juliana Lumumba has had questions. Who murdered her father? How did the Americans help? What did the United Nations do? Did they stand idly by, even though he was under their protection? They are uncomfortable questions, political questions. And Juliana will not rest until she has answers. "You cannot be the child of Patrice Lumumba without this impacting your life" she says. Her gaze is composed as she looks out of the window of her house in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lumumba murder case could go to trial On June 17, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office announced that it has requested that the case in connection with the assassination of Juliana's father be referred to a Brussels criminal court. It follows more than a decade of investigation. On Congo's independence day in 1960, Patrice Lumumba spoke about the atrocities inflicted on Congolese people under Belgian colonial rule, angering King Baudouin (in white) Image: Belga/IMAGO The Belgian state is partly responsible for the murder. A 2001 parliamentary investigation established that King Baudouin, Belgium's then-monarch, knew about the assassination plan but did nothing to stop it. Juliana's brother Francois, the plaintiff in a 2011 complaint, accused the Belgian state of war crimes and torture, and of having been part of a conspiracy aimed at the political and physical elimination of his father. Lumumba fought for the Congo's independence On June 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba freed the Congo from Belgian colonial rule and became the country's first prime minister. He promised democracy, prosperity and an end to the exploitation of Congolese minerals by foreign powers. But that never happened. The West – in particular Belgium and the US — opposed Lumumba's plans to nationalize Congo's raw materials and his proximity with the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War. On January 17, 1961, half a year after Lumumba was elected the first prime minister of a free Congo, Congolese separatists took him to the hostile province of Katanga – with Belgian and American blessing. Lumumba and two of his aides were shot in the forest under the command of Belgian officers. The facts only came to light thanks to investigations by the likes of Belgian sociologist and writer, Ludo De Witte, whose findings were detailed in his 2003 book, "The Assassination of Lumumba." Patrice Lumumba gives a press conference in Leopoldville in August 1960. He would be dead 5 months later at only 35. Image: AFP Another Belgian officer, Gerard Soete, sawed the bodies in pieces and dissolved them in sulfuric acid. Two teeth were all that remained of Lumumba. Soete kept them as a trophy. Juliana learned about this on television, in a 2000 report on a German broadcaster in which Soete himself recounted the details and held the teeth into the camera. This gruesome memory still angers Juliana. "How would you feel if they told you that your father was not only killed, buried, unburied, cut in pieces but they also took parts of his body?", she asks. "To many, he was the first prime minister of the Congo, a national hero. But for me, he's my father." Still fighting for the truth Years later, Juliana wrote a letter to the Belgian king demanding one of the teeth be returned. No one knows where the second one is. Soete had claimed that he had thrown it into the North Sea. He died shortly after, but later his daughter showed the golden tooth to a journalist. Ludo De Witte then sued her and Belgian authorities confiscated the remains. Lumumba's children at the ceremony in Brussels, receiving the last remains of their father Image: Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga/AFP In 2022, then prime minister Alexander de Croo returned the tooth to Lumumba's children at a ceremony in Brussels and apologized – unlike King Philippe, a direct descendant of King Baudouin, who did not utter the word "sorry." He merely expressed his "deepest regrets" for the violence inflicted on the Congolese people under Belgian rule. But apologies are not the point for Juliana. "It's not a problem of apology. It's a problem of truth. Verité," she says. "I need to know the truth." Growing up in exile When her father was murdered, Juliana was just five years old. She learned of it while in exile in Egypt. A few months before Lumumba's assassination, she and her siblings were smuggled out of their house in Congo, where their father was placed under house arrest, and taken to Cairo with fake passports. Patrice Lumumba knew he was going to die, Juliana says. He also hinted at it in his last letter to his wife. In Cairo, Lumumba's children grew up with Mohamed Abdel Aziz Ishak, a diplomat and friend of Lumumba. But they couldn't escape their own history. "We are a political family," says Juliana. "We came to Egypt for political reasons, hosted by President Nasser. Politics is the core of our lives, whether we like it or not." The children also entered politics. Juliana held various ministerial posts, and her brother Francois is the leader of the Congolese National Movement, the party his father founded. In 2022, Patrice Lumumba was finally laid to rest in a ceremony in Kinshasa Image: Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP Photo/picture alliance Juliana says that she always knew that her father's assassination was political, even when she was still a child in Cairo. The news of Lumumba's death in 1961 spread quickly in the city. "They set fire to the library of the American university and looted the Belgian embassy," she recalls. "People in the streets shouted 'Lumumba, Lumumba.'" Guilt, accountability and colonial continuities It wasn't until 1994, when Congo's Mobutu dictatorship was on the verge of collapse, that Juliana returned to her homeland after years in exile. This had been her father's wish. "He told us, no matter what happens, you have to come back home. So, when it was safe for us again, we came back home, where we belong," she says. Today, Juliana is less active in Congolese politics. She doesn't want to talk about the current situation, the conflict between the Congolese army and the rebel militia M23, or the ongoing exploitation of natural resources by Western nations, China, Rwanda, and other foreign powers. Juliana Lumumba, the daughter of Patrice Lumumba, wants justice for her father. Image: privat Nor does she want to speak about the potential trial in Brussels of the last living suspect who might have been complicit in her father's killing, 92-year-old Etienne Davignon. A former top Belgian diplomat, businessman and former vice-president of the European Commission, Davignon is the last of 10 Belgians who were accused of involvement in the murder in the 2011 lawsuit filed by the Lumumba children. With little progress in over six decades, Juliana is losing hope that someone will finally face justice for her father's death. "No one has been held accountable. No Belgian, no European, no Congolese. No white, no Black. Everybody agrees that there was an assassination. There is a crime. But nobody has done it," she says. On July 2, 2025, Patrice Lumumba would have been 100 years old. Edited by Stuart Braun
DW
18-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Who killed Patrice Lumumba? – DW – 06/18/2025
For Juliana Lumumba, he was not just a politician: Patrice Lumumba was her father. That's why she continues to demand the truth about an assassination for which no one has faced justice. For more than 60 years, Juliana Lumumba has had questions. Who murdered her father? How did the Americans help? What did the United Nations do? Did they stand by idly, even though he was under their protection? They are uncomfortable questions, political questions. And Juliana will not rest until she has answers. "You cannot be the child of Patrice Lumumba without this impacting your life" she says. Her gaze is composed as she looks out of the window of her house in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lumumba murder case could go to trial On June 17, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office announced that it has requested that the case in connection with the assassination of Juliana's father be referred to a Brussels criminal court. It follows more than a decade of investigation. On Congo's independence day in 1960, Patrice Lumumba spoke about the atrocities inflicted on Congolese people under Belgian colonial rule, angering King Baudouin (in white) Image: Belga/IMAGO The Belgiumstate is partly responsible for the murder. A 2001 parliamentary investigation established that King Baudouin, the then Belgian monarch, knew about the assassination plan but did nothing to stop it. Juliana's brother François, the plaintiff in a 2011 complaint, accused the Belgian state of war crimes and torture, and of having been part of a conspiracy aimed at the political and physical elimination of his father. Lumumba fought for the Congo's independence On June 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba freed the Congo from Belgian colonial rule and became the country's first prime minister. He promised democracy, prosperity and an end to the exploitation of Congolese minerals by foreign powers. But that never happened. The West – in particular Belgium and the USA — were not fond of Lumumba's plans to nationalize Congo's raw materials. And certainly not of him cozying up with the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War. On January 17, 1961, half a year after Lumumba was elected the first prime minister of a free Congo, Congolese separatists took him to the hostile province of Katanga – with Belgian and American blessing. Lumumba and two of his aides were shot in the forest under the command of Belgian officers. The facts only came to light thanks to investigations by the likes of Belgian sociologist and writer, Ludo De Witte, whose findings were detailed in the 2003 book, "The Assassination of Lumumba." Patrice Lumumba gives a press conference in Leopoldville in August 1960. He would dead 5 months later. Image: AFP Another Belgian officer, Gérard Soete, sawed the bodies in pieces and dissolved them in sulfuric acid. Two teeth were all that remained of Lumumba. Soete kept them as a trophy. Juliana learned about this on television, in a 2000 report on a German broadcaster in which Soete himself recounted the details and held the teeth into the camera. This gruesome memory still angers Juliana. "How would you feel if they told you that your father was not only killed, buried, unburied, cut in pieces but they also took parts of his body?", she asks. "To many, he was the first prime minister of the Congo, a national hero. But for me, he's my father." Still fighting for the truth Years later, Juliana wrote a letter to the Belgian king demanding one of the teeth be returned. No one knows where the second one is. Soete had claimed that he had thrown it into the North Sea. He died shortly after, but later his daughter showed the golden tooth to a journalist. Ludo De Witte then sued her and Belgian authorities confiscated the remains. Lumumba's children at the ceremony in Brussels, receiving the last remains of their father Image: Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga/AFP In 2022, then prime minister Alexander de Croo returned the tooth to Lumumba's children at a ceremony in Brussels and apologized – unlike King Philippe, a direct descendant of King Baudouin, who apparently could not utter the word "sorry." He merely expressed his "deepest regrets" for the violence inflicted on the Congolese people under Belgian rule. But apologies are not enough for Juliana. "It's not a problem of apology. It's a problem of truth. Verité," she says. "I need to know the truth." Growing up in exile When her father was murdered, Juliana was just five years old. She learned of it while in exile in Egypt. A few months before Lumumba's assassination, she and her siblings were smuggled out of their house in Congo, where their father was placed under house arrest, and taken to Cairo with fake passports. Patrice Lumumba knew he was going to die, Juliana says. He also hinted at it in his last letter to his wife. In Cairo, Lumumba's children grew up with Mohamed Abdel Aziz Ishak, a diplomat and friend of Lumumba. But they couldn't escape their own history. "We are a political family, says Juliana. "We came to Egypt for political reasons, hosted by President Nasser. Politics is the core of our lives, whether we like it or not." The children also entered politics. Juliana held various ministerial posts, and her brother François is the leader of the Congolese National Movement, the party his father founded. In 2022, Patrice Lumumba was finally laid to rest in a ceremony in Kinshasa Image: Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP Photo/picture alliance Juliana says that she always knew that her father's assassination was political, even when she was still a child in Cairo. The news of Lumumba's death in 1961 spread quickly in the city. "They set fire to the library of the American university and looted the Belgian embassy," she recalls. "People in the streets shouted 'Lumumba, Lumumba.'" Guilt, accountability and colonial continuities It wasn't until 1994, when Congo's Mobutu dictatorship was on the verge of collapse, that Juliana returned to her homeland after years in exile. This had been her father's wish. "He told us, no matter what happens, you have to come back home. So, when it was safe for us again, we came back home, where we belong," she says. Today, Juliana is less active in Congolese politics. She doesn't want to talk about the current situation, the conflict between the Congolese army and the rebel militia M23, or the ongoing exploitation of natural resources by the Western nations, China, Rwanda, and other foreign powers. Juliana Lumumba, the daughter of Patrice Lumumba, in her home in Kinshasa Image: privat Nor does she want to speak about the potential trial in Brussels of the last living suspect who might have been complicit in her father's killing, 92-year-old Etienne Davignon. A former top Belgian diplomat, businessman and former vice-president of the European Commission, Davignon is the last of 10 Belgians who were accused of involvement in the murder in the 2011 lawsuit filed by the Lumumba children. With little progress in over six decades, Juliana is losing hope that someone will finally face justice for her father's death. "No one has been held accountable. No Belgian, no European, no Congolese. No white, no Black. Everybody agrees that there was an assassination. There is a crime. But nobody has done it," she says. On July 2, 2025, Patrice Lumumba would have been 100 years old. Edited by Stuart Braun
Business Insider
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
Belgian officials go after a 92-year-old diplomat for his role in the murder of Patrice Lumumba
Belgian prosecutors are looking to take Etienne Davignon (92), a former diplomat who was allegedly involved in the murder of the Congolese revolutionary, Patrice Lumumba. Belgian prosecutors are investigating Etienne Davignon's involvement in Patrice Lumumba's murder. Accusations center on unlawful detention and degrading treatment of Lumumba prior to his execution. Davignon was a trainee diplomat at the time and is the sole survivor among the suspects. According to the prosecutor's office, the accused was involved in the "unlawful detention and transfer" of the former Congolese head of state, who was wrongly imprisoned and subjected to "humiliating and degrading treatment". AFP news agency disclosed that Davignon is the only survivor of ten Belgians who are suspected of being engaged in Lumumba's assassination. He held the position of vice-chairman of the European Commission throughout the 1980s and was a trainee diplomat at the time of the killing. As reported by the BBC, in 2011, Lumumba's children filed a complaint in Belgium to seek justice for their father's murder at the age of 35. A hearing is scheduled for January 2026 to determine if he should go to trial. The news was welcomed by Juliana, Lumumba's daughter, who told Belgian network RTBF: "We're moving in the right direction. What we're seeking is, first and foremost, the truth." Life of Patrice Lumumba Patrice Lumumba, born in 1925 in the Belgian Congo, was a fierce anti-colonial leader and the first Prime Minister of an independent Congo. A powerful orator and visionary, he led the Congolese National Movement and played a central role in securing the country's independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960. His passionate Independence Day speech, in which he denounced the cruelty of Belgian colonialism, shocked Western leaders and marked him as a threat to foreign interests. Within months of independence, Congo descended into crisis. The mineral-rich Katanga province, backed by Belgian interests, declared secession. As Lumumba sought Soviet assistance to defend Congo's unity, Western powers, including the U.S. and Belgium, grew increasingly hostile. He was soon overthrown in a coup led by Colonel Joseph Mobutu, who had Western backing. Lumumba was arrested, humiliated, and eventually handed over to Katangan secessionists. On January 17, 1961, he was executed by firing squad alongside two allies. His body was dismembered and dissolved in acid to prevent a grave from becoming a rallying point. Foreign complicity in his death is widely acknowledged today. Patrice Lumumba remains a martyr of African liberation, his life and brutal killing symbolize the deep struggles Africa faced in shaking off the chains of colonialism.
France 24
18-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Belgium seeking to put ex-official on trial over killing of Congo's Lumumba
Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday that they were seeking to put a 92-year-old former diplomat on trial over the 1961 killing of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Etienne Davignon is the only one still alive among 10 Belgians who were accused of complicity in the murder of the independence icon in a 2011 lawsuit filed by Lumumba's children. If he goes on trial, Davignon would be the first Belgian official to face justice in the more than six decades since Lumumba was murdered. A fiery critic of Belgium's colonial rule, Lumumba became his country's first prime minister after it gained independence in 1960. 02:09 But he fell out with the former colonial power and with the United States and was ousted in a coup a few months after taking office. He was executed on January 17, 1961, aged just 35, in the southern region of Katanga, with the support of Belgian mercenaries. His body was dissolved in acid and never recovered. Davignon, who went on to be a vice president of the European Commission in the 1980s, was a trainee diplomat at the time of the assassination. He is accused of involvement in the "unlawful detention and transfer" of Lumumba at the time he was taken prisoner and his "humiliating and degrading treatment", the prosecutor's office said. But prosecutors added that a charge of intent to kill should be dropped. It is now up to a magistrate to decide if the trial should proceed, following a hearing on the case set for January 2026. "We're moving in the right direction. What we're seeking is, first and foremost, the truth," Juliana Lumumba, the daughter of the former Congolese premier, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. The prosecutor's decision is the latest step in Belgium's decades-long reckoning with the role it played in Lumumba's killing. In 2022, Belgium returned a tooth -- the last remains of Lumumba -- to his family in a bid to turn a page on the grim chapter of its colonial past. The tooth was seized by Belgian authorities in 2016 from the daughter of a policeman, Gerard Soete. A Belgian parliamentary commission of enquiry concluded in 2001 that Belgium had "moral responsibility" for the assassination, and the government presented the country's "apologies" a year later.
